


Butterfly Kisses

by ceryses



Series: Dimitri & Byleth: Love beyond Time [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, F! Byleth, F/M, Fluff, Hope is a beautiful thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-19 22:00:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20216944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceryses/pseuds/ceryses
Summary: To be reborn requires a price -  one that Dimitri pays for with fear and regret. That being said, Byleth is always ready to help him when he needs it most.





	Butterfly Kisses

_For Faerghus. For my friends and my family, for the protection of the weak, for my love._

_For revenge._

Dimitri shuddered.

It began as a dull roar that caressed his brain, massaging its way into his thoughts and words like a slick of slippery black oil, steadfast and repulsive. When the last foe had fallen, when he sank to his knees after looking for _her_ everywhere and finding nothing, he couldn’t help but wonder if she’d betrayed him too. No, she couldn’t be dead; that, he simply wouldn’t accept. Professor had never, _never_ displayed any sign of battle fatigue back then. She’d simply gone to get reinforcements and been caught in other affairs. Or maybe she’d been injured - but not dead. She could not be dead.

_If she does not appear tomorrow, then she is lost. If she does not appear by the next day, she is resting. If not the next, then surely she is on her way back._

_And if she does not appear by the last rise of this moon, then she has betrayed me._

So he wandered and wandered through the monastery and through the fields nearby; he strode for days through dense forests and heard the dry crunch of leaves as they became deciduous. Petty thieves and lowly soldiers meant nothing to his lance - how dare they interrupt his search? Days and days passed as he’d mutter _professor, where are you_ which in months became _Byleth, please, I need you_. He’d never had the nerve to confess the matters which lay deep in his heart - idealisms of revenge had always possessed him more - and besides, he’d always thought he’d have a small eternity to become a man more worthy of her love before confessing. If only he knew back then just how quickly everything would come crumbling down - it was laughable. Hell, he might as well laugh about it - it wasn’t like anyone would hear or care. He was, in entirety, alone. Dimitri barked a short, scornful laugh that echoed dully through the small cave he’d settled into for the night.

No-one, no-one, no-one left to turn to…

A stabbing heat seared through his chest as he fell to unforgiving ground with a gasp; faces of the fallen always so readily there to cajole him with sweet sonnets of bloodlust. _Mother. Father._ It was as though someone was literally there, prodding his chest with a blade. _I’m sorry, you’ll have your revenge soon, just give me a moment’s more time and I’ll-_

‘Dimitri…’ 

_Not you too_, he thought desperately, _I can’t lose you too, Byleth_; he clawed at his face in horror as his beloved’s face grew closer and closer - he spotted the silver sheen of tears on her cheeks. He screwed his lone blue eye shut, feeling himself slip from sanity. _I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you._

_ _Impossibly warm lips pressed lightly to his forehead, lingering and loving. ‘No, my love. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you. Now please… please wake up.’ Slowly but surely, more kisses ghosted softly down his cheeks to his shoulders, before small yet calloused hands grasped his cheeks and he felt the tickle of fine hairs on his shoulders. He smelled the scent of lavender and honey before it reached him - a delicate kiss on his lips. A quiet sigh puffed across his neck as something inexplicably rustled across his body - almost like a blanket. No, it definitely was a blanket - how many times had he strewn this satin-like material over his beloved as she drifted off in his arms? _Ah… that’s right.__ _

_ _He was not alone. He was in his bedroom and his wife was right there._ _

_ _The stricken king opened his eye to find the professor - no, his Byleth - perched above him with a look of worry, which immediately changed to relief once she saw that he’d come to his senses. ‘Oh, thank goodness,’ she mumbled, ‘I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t woken just then. I’m sorry, I should have-’ _ _

_ _‘Byleth, my love, you saved me,’ Dimitri rasped; his throat felt constricted with grief from making her worry but he had to let her _know_, ‘never apologise for that.’ He gently wrapped his arms around her back and pressed her to his chest, feeling tension slip slowly out of his body. Gods, she was so soft and warm. Although she did not have a heartbeat, he could feel her steady breaths against his shoulder and it just felt so _right_. He smiled at how she let out a hum of contentment as she snuggled assuredly into him. He did not believe that anything could get better than this._ _

_ _‘Dimitri?’ Byleth murmured sleepily. ‘Can I ask you a question?’_ _

_ _‘Anything, love.’_ _

_ _‘Do you wish for me to bear your child someday?’_ _

_ _He chuckled a little at that. ‘Though I am afraid that I will not be as great a father that my own was to me, I would love nothing more. Anything that you have played a part in creating can only be incredible.’_ _

_ _She peered up at him, something like relief flitting across her face. ‘Me too. I’m scared as well.’_ _

_ _‘You are…?’_ _

_ _‘But…’ Byleth snuck a chaste, butterfly kiss to his cheek, ‘if it’s with you, I know our child will be just fine.’_ _

_ _This time he did not allow her to slip away so easily; he captured her face with his hands and held her there. ‘Then perhaps, sometime soon…’_ _

_ _Teal eyes sparkled at him, gentle yet joyful. ‘Is that a proposal?’ She pouted playfully as he pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose._ _

_ _Dimitri had never expected to feel so _safe_ ever again; how many sleepless nights and blood-drenched days had it taken to come to this? Was he truly deserving of such bliss? Deep down, he knew the answer. For her, he had to be, and so he responded to her with a heartfelt smile._ _

_ _‘My beloved, I can do anything as long as it’s with you.’_ _

**Author's Note:**

> ♡ Accepting requests for this pairing because I adore them ♡


End file.
